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Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentA slower and cheaper 50-mile railway line could be built in place of a scrapped section of HS2, a new report has revealed.The alternative route between Staffordshire and Cheshire, which would connect with the east-west Northern Powerhouse Rail, was described as a “golden opportunity” by former HS2 chairman Sir David Higgins.It comes after former prime minister Rishi Sunak cancelled a plan to extend HS2 between the West Midlands and Manchester amid spiralling costs.The report commissioned by mayors of Greater Manchester and the West Midlands said the route would be critical for movements of passengers and freight between the two regions.It did not provide an estimated cost of the new project but said financing should be “maximised from the private sector”, with central and local governments “partnering to fund the balance”.Former prime minister cancelled a plan to extend HS2 between the West Midlands and Manchester amid spiralling costs More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentThe UK’s economy saw a second month of stagnation in July, also recording no growth in June, the Office for National Statistics has said.Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which is the measure of the value of goods and services, is shown to have flatlined for the month. The figures are the first for the period since Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour power after the 4 July general election.Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “I am under no illusion about the scale of the challenge we face and I will be honest with the British people that change will not happen overnight.“Two quarters of positive economic growth does not make up for fourteen years of stagnation.“That is why we are taking the long-term decisions now to fix the foundations of our economy.”Economists had been expecting GDP to edge up by 0.1 per cent in July, according to a consensus provided by Pantheon Macroeconomics.The latest data comes after the economy continued its recovery from recession at the end of last year, with growth of 0.6 percent between April and June.The ONS’s data showed that the services sector increased by 0.1 per cent in July but by 0.6 per cent across the three months to July.The accommodation and food and beverages category ticked up by 0.9 per cent, with accommodation, including hotels, the biggest contributor with 2.2% growth recorded during the month.ONS director of economic statistics Liz McKeown said: “The economy recorded no growth for the second month running, though longer term strength in the services sector meant there was growth over the last three months as a whole.“July’s monthly services growth was led by computer programmers and health, which recovered from strike action in June. These gains were partially offset by falls for advertising companies, architects and engineers.“Manufacturing fell, overall, with a particularly poor month for car and machinery firms, while construction also declined.”Rob Wood, chief UK economist for Pantheon Macroeconomics, said GDP was “dragged down by erratic sectors” and that he is expecting a “substantial rebound” in economic growth in August, as manufacturing and construction recover.He also said consumer spending could “keep rising as the prospect of interest rate cuts and a more political and a more stable political and economic environment allow households to lower their saving rate” during the second half of 2024. More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentSir Keir Starmer’s government has signalled a potential openness to setting up overdose prevention facilities after years of Tory opposition, Scotland’s first official centre is set to open in Glasgow.As grim data showed drug deaths in Scotland rose 12 per cent to hit 1,172 last year, councillor Alan Casey confimed that the long-awaited £2.3m drug consumption centre would open on 21 October in Glasgow’s East End, warning that “the urgent need for such a facility couldn’t be more important”.In the first indication of Labour’s approach since coming into power in July, Home Office minister Dame Diana Johnson has now said her department “will consider any evidence emerging” from evaluation of the Glasgow drug consumption room pilot “in due course”.Several councils in England and Wales have approached experts for advice on how to set up the facilities, The Independent understands More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentThe prison population in England and Wales has reached a new record high as a scheme to house UK prisoners in Estonia to solve Britain’s jail overcrowding crisis has been branded half-baked and unworkable.Official figures showed there were 88,521 people behind bars on Friday, 171 more than the previous record set at the end of last week. The prison population has risen by 1,025 people over the past four weeks and now stands at its highest level since weekly population data was first published in 2011.Dame Angela Eagle, the Home Office minister, refused to deny reports that some inmates could serve their sentences in the eastern European country, and admitted there were too few places in UK prisons.“The last government closed loads of prison places and didn’t replace any of them, so I think that colleagues in the MoJ (Ministry of Justice) will be considering anything that they can to alleviate the problem,” she said on Friday. “What we cannot have is people who are convicted of perhaps violent or serious crimes not being able to be in jail.”Dame Angela Eagle refused to deny reports that some inmates could serve their sentences in Estonia More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentGrieving relatives of Grenfell fire victims are calling for those responsible to face manslaughter charges as pressure builds on police to speed up their investigation.Families and survivors expressed anguish that prosecutions might not be brought until 2026 despite this week’s damning inquiry report into the disaster which killed 72 residents and left 800 more homeless.The wait could be even longer, warned a former director of public prosecutions on Thursday night. Lord Macdonald said criminal trials may not begin until the 2029 due to the pressure on the criminal justice system.Some families now fear they may not live to see justice for their loved ones over the 2017 blaze.Shah Aghlani, 55, who lost his aunt and disabled mother in the fire, told The Independent that the prospect of further delay to criminal prosecutions “is our worst fear coming true, our nightmare coming true”.And he said the lack of accountability over Grenfell has emboldened developers to drag their feet in fixing thousands of buildings still endangered by flammable cladding seven years on, labelling a fire that ravaged a block of flats in London last week as “Grenfell Two”.“There are harsher laws for drinking and driving than killing people by corporate manslaughter,” said Mr Aghlani. “There are people who falsified test results, people whose job was to make sure the safety and security of the building was not compromised. People who were responsible for their tenants.Seventy-two people were killed in the Grenfell fire More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorThe way Ofsted inspections work for schools will see a major change from today as Labour delivers on its pledge to revamp the grading system.The headline reform the scrapping of single headline judgements, with schools now given more detailed reports. These will provide four grades on each of the existing criteria: quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development and leadership & management.From September 2025, this will become even more comprehensive with the introduction of School Report Cards, which the Department for Education says will a fuller assessment of how schools are performing. It says the move is supported by 77 percent of parents.In its election manifesto, Labour said the overall cost its Ofsted reform plans would be £45 million, paid for with some of the £1.51bn raised from charging VAT on private school fees. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson (Lucy North/PA) More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorThe former Tory minister Michael Gove, known mostly as a Brexiteer but also more recently for his dance moves in a techno club, has defended Angela Rayner, who has been criticised for her own contortions at an Ibiza superclub.Following a meeting with mayors and housing regulators on Wednesday, the deputy prime minister and housing secretary was filmed just hours later dancing with the Australian DJ Fisher in front of a vast crowd at the Hi Ibiza superclub.Later, in footage posted to Instagram by actor and presenter Denise van Outen, the MP for Ashton-under-Lyne could be seen singing along to a remix of Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used To Know” with the DJ’s headphones around her neck, as a sea of smartphones held aloft in front of her captured the moment.The moment was widely criticised in sections of the right-wing press with former Tory MP Nadine Dorries writing an article saying that Ms Rayner’s behaviour “demeans her office”.Former GB News host Dan Wootton posted: “Angela Rayner has been Deputy Prime Minister for 56 days. She’s disappeared from public view as Two Tier Keir warns of doomsday coming for all of us. Yet here she is raving into the early hours at one of the most expensive party clubs in Ibiza. What an absolute p*** take.”Angela Rayner is filmed dancing in Ibiza during parliament’s summer recess More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorEmployees could get the right to a four-day working week under new laws being considered by Labour as part of their package for workers.This would come in the form of “compressed hours” where an employee is allowed to work their regular hours over four days instead of five, according to reports.Angela Rayner is understood to be spearheading Labour’s plan for workers, consulting with trade unions and businesses ahead of new legislation expected in the autumn.Under current rules, workers have the right to request flexible working, but employers aren’t legally obliged to agree.The new law would see this change, with all employers needing to offer flexible working from day one, except where it is “not reasonably feasible”.Some workers may only have to endure four commutes a week rather than five in the future More